Posts tagged with 'flooding'
In Gauteng Province, the Jukskei River winds its way through the heart of Johannesburg’s inner-city neighborhoods, informal settlements and suburban areas, eventually joining the Crocodile and Limpopo rivers before emptying into the Indian Ocean. One of the biggest waterways in ...
South Africa’s cities face growing threats to their water resources, especially rivers, as rapid development and climate change undermine the health of water systems and the ecosystem services they provide. Urban areas are particularly vulnerable to serious flood risks during ...
Nearly a decade ago, the world rallied around the Paris Agreement on climate change and the goal of holding global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F). Since then, the “1.5C goal” has become the world’s North Star ...
Resilience in cities is often framed around large-scale infrastructure projects and sweeping policy shifts. We see headlines about billion-dollar climate adaptation plans, smart cities leveraging AI for disaster response and ambitious net-zero pledges. But some of the most impactful solutions ...
At a moment when all countries need to raise their ambition on climate action, the opposite seems to be happening. Headline after headline show lackluster progress and rolled-back commitments. For one, climate change was a low priority for voters in ...
Despite accounting for less than 3% of global terrestrial area, cities have had an outsized impact on our approach to planetary boundaries, affecting biodiversity and consumption of materials and energy. Studies show that cities have become responsible for 78% of carbon emissions, ...
In the heart of Nairobi’s Mathare slums, a quiet but powerful revolution is growing – one plant at a time. Teenage mothers, often marginalized and overlooked, are transforming their lives and their community through urban farming and organizing. Their efforts ...
Extreme weather events like floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and intense around the globe, disrupting communities and the infrastructure they rely on. In 2024 alone, the world endured 58 disasters that wreaked over a billion dollars in damages each. Yet ...
Colombia is currently updating its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which will be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) later this year. This update aims to highlight Colombia’s national priorities, such as biodiversity and food security, ...
Looking at more than 350 urban leaders and experts gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for the Green & Resilient UrbanShift Africa Forum, Dr. Cromwel Lukorito, Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II, issued a simple ...
Africa’s cities, from large metropolises to smaller towns, are increasingly characterized by growing urban sprawl. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, is expanding by about 2,000 people and 5 hectares (10 football fields) every day, according to a World Bank estimate. Kumasi, an intermediary ...
Imagine stepping into a city where sustainability isn’t just built upwards but also downwards. While cities worldwide grapple with intensifying climate risks—flooding, heatwaves and infrastructure strain—an untapped solution lies right beneath our feet. The underground isn’t just for subways and ...
For the 21 million residents of Lagos, Nigeria, climate change is not a distant concept — it is a current reality. Over the past decade, the city has experienced devastating floods, exacerbated by the loss of over half of its wetlands ...
For more than 20 years, WRI has identified annual “stories to watch.” These are the year’s moments, issues and decisions that we believe will shape the future trajectory of the world. In the past, we’ve highlighted things like dangerous heat in cities, ...
Moldova’s capital city, Chișinău, recently secured a €20 million investment to tackle flooding and pollution of the Bîc River, aiming to transform it into a valuable recreational amenity for 100,000 residents and mitigate future flood risks. This funding, which combines loans from ...
